Modernizing Education Systems: A Key to Global Development - Research Paper

Introduction

Over the years, the education system has been undergoing drastic changes globally. It is evident that as years goes by, there is a necessity to adopt a new system of education to ensure that it conforms with the change in society. Research indicates that the developed nations employed a good system of education for them to achieve the evidenced development and currently in the developing nations, there is a quest to improve the education system to fit into the advanced education of other nations for them to realize development and technological advancement. Due to the need to keep fostering the education system and rise in demand for quality education, there has been a significant rise in the cost of education.

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The rise in the cost of education has been attributed to numerous factors which keep arising in society. The society we live in has come to embrace education, with this in place, the demand of education has gone high significantly, and the number of institutions in place is slightly lower hence the rule of demand and supply have elevated the cost of education (Martindale). In united states, the cost of education has been upsurge for the last three years alarmingly. Despite the effort which has been put in by government to curb this menace, by allowing private sector to set up educational institutions to meet the rising demand for education, there is prove that this has not been able to curb it due to the cost of installing facilities in schools which is high hence private schools are not able to meet that cost.

As it has been revealed by the research, the education system of the USA is one of the most admired systems globally thus attracting international students, hence rise in the cost of education. The facilities and the services offered in the academic institutions are sophisticated; thus more students who will, in turn, lead to a rise in education cost. As indicated by the research, in the academic year 2012/2013, the tuition fee for state students was $22,549 per year and students who are coming from outside the state paid $35,964 (Anderson). With this, we can note that despite the rise in the cost of education, international students will be paying more as compared to the students from the nation.

With the rise in technology, the facilities utilized in schools in teaching students to embrace technology which is expensive to acquire. With this in place, institutions have hiked increased the tuition fee in schools to curb the cost incurred in the procurement of the facilities (Martindale). With the institutions offering different courses which are technical like nursing and engineering requires tools which are sophisticated to be used in teaching students, this means the institutions have to incur a lot of money in acquiring this equipment hence the cost will be passed to students by ensuring that they pay more in tuition fee (Graglia).

Acquisition of professors by colleges and universities attracts high cost in salaries. With the current demand for quality education in various institutions, there is a need to employ educated people to pass the knowledge to students (Graglia). This demands the employment of professors who are scarce and those few who are available demands high payment as their salaries. Because the institutions have fewer options to choose from, they will opt to employ them and pay much salary then transfer the cost to students hence rise in the cost of education.

The society we live in has been marred with the immoral behaviors which in most cases is traced back to educational institutions. This is because, in schools, students from different backgrounds with different behaviors interact thus influencing each other thus those students who morally upright found themselves indulging in uncalled behaviors hence moral decal. With this in place, institutions have introduced counseling services which need qualified personnel to offer guidance thus increasing the cost of administering services in schools, hence the high cost of education (Graglia). In recent years, institutions have introduced health services within the institutions which need employment of nurses and doctors to attend to students within the institutions when need arises, this means that the cost incurred by the institutions in meeting salaries for nurses and doctors increases and the only reliable source of getting money is from tuition fee paid by students, hence need to increase it to meet the new costs.

Reduced funding from the government. In the recent years, the government has reduced the funding it offers to the learning institutions, this left the schools with the only option to hike the tuition fees to raise money to be used in running the school programs. Studies have revealed that in America, 80% of students attend public schools who initially depended on the government for funding. The increased number of students in these public schools gave more pressure to the government, this prompted government to reduce its funding in the higher education thus the institutions had to increase the cost tuition fee to get money to be used in funding the running of the activities in schools.

The cost of education has been in the rise of the rise payments made by other institutions. The research has indicated that the salaries paid to the professors and the tutors have been in rising over the years in proportion to the rise in salaries offered by large companies to their employees. It is indicated that in 1954, the amount paid by large companies to their workers was $4,000 and currently the same employees are being paid $160,000 (Loo). This has called professors to demand more pay as those working in other sectors receive higher pay. With this in place, colleges and universities have to increase fees to be paid by students in the institution hence rise in the cost of education.

Institutions of higher learning are independent in most of their decision, and they are seen as organizations which can run themselves. With this in place, universities have been left to run themselves leading to mismanagement (Archibald, & Feldman). Various colleges have been reported to suffer from the poor management which has lead to the loss of funds in the institution, with the loss of funds, the institutions have been forced to look for alternative ways to replenish the lost funds and the only available and possible means is raising the cost of tuition hence increased cost of education.

Academic ratchet. In this situation, the administrative authorities have adjusted the running of the colleges to suit their needs. In this case, they assign themselves less cumbersome duties and employ other tutors to handle the cumbersome duties which will, in turn, attract more payment thus costing the institution much money than expected. In some situations, the administrative personnel assigns themselves much money than what could have been paid to them under fair circumstances (Archibald, & Feldman). This will elevate the cost of running the learning institution hence tuition fee, and some other fees in the institutions will be raised to meet the rising cost of running the institution. The administrative cost of running the institution has been in rising for the past years. It has been indicated that the number of administrative members in the institutions have been in the rise, the number has risen by 5.9% for the last ten years, and the number of employees has escalated by 17.9% (Hedrick et al.). With the increase in administrative personnel and employees, the expenditure in the institutions has witnessed a proportional increase in the expenditure.

With the research conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is an indication the rising cost of education in united states affects the annual earnings of the state's earnings by approximately $20,000 (Manning, $ Crosta). With this effect in place, 75% of Americans have admitted that indeed the cost of a college education has been in the rise and it has affected them financially as they have to incur a lot of money in funding their education, children's education, or those they serve as their guardians. With the noted increase in the cost of education in college, this has had the following effects in states:

The dreams of students who come from humble backgrounds see their chances of enrolling in colleges is minimal. With the high cost of education in colleges, it becomes difficult for students who do not have enough supply of funds to pursue their education in colleges (Manning, $ Crosta). Despite other institutions like universities offering financial aid to the students they enroll there, the funds provided are not enough hence if your family does not have a stable source of income, they will opt to avoid going to school hence affecting their education. Many families in the United States does not entertain loans hence encouraging them to join universities so that they can be utilized the loans provided is not welcomed, and in most cases, they will prefer to spend more time looking for money to pay for the required fees than obtaining loan for education.

The rate of graduation is significantly dropping. As a result of the rising cost of education, students who enroll in colleges end up looking for a part-time job to help them in funding their education (Sloan). As time goes by, they will realize that the money they obtain from a job is not sufficient to support their education and consider to concentrate in working and with no time, their education will be forgotten, and they drop out of school hence the number of graduates decreasing. With this menace in place, many students have been reported to be dropping out of school even though the government have been trying to motivate students to seek academic loans but most students are reluctant, and they will prefer to work and enroll for part-time schooling and pay fee for themselves rather than enroll for full time and have loans awaiting them to settle in future.

With the rise in the cost of education, the life events of the affected students are delayed. Because they have to spend more time before marrying as they have to settle loans they accrued while is university or college (Sloan). With this in place, the graduates take more time before they give birth to children as they have repaid the loan before starting to invest hence delay in getting children, as children would mean that the expenses increase. With this trend, there is a likelihood that the affected persons will not have enough funds to save for their children; hence they will borrow in the future, and the cycle repeats itself.

With the current situation in the cost of education, there have been several complaints which have been launched by the citizens concerning the cost of education. In response to that, the government and various education stakeholders have tried to offer diverse solutions to the menace of the cost of education. Reducing the cost of education will ensure that education is more affordable and many people in society will be able to access education. The chances of delaying in life events by graduates will be minimized significantly. To achieve a reduction in the cost of education, the following actions have to be put in place.

Scholarships and grants. The students who yearn to pursue their education in college and universities should be encouraged to apply for scholarships which are always present yearly (Hoffower). The available scholarships which are up for crap are availed by government, private colleges and universities, state government, and private organizations. Introduction of scholarships yearns to ensure that students who come from backgrounds with financial constraints can access tertiary education. With the rise in the number of firms offering scholarships, there have been other conmen and women who have utilized this chance to scam many ne...